Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

It’s what we use at SFBI to deliver about 20 loaves at a time into the deck oven without harming one strand of gluten on their pretty little heads. This canvas conveyor belt does a great job of ensuring, for example, that our lovely pear-shaped loaves don’t wind up becoming oranges or bananas on their way into the oven.

It’s what you can use at home to pick up your own pears, pizzas, or pains de campagne and deposit them onto your baking stone equally unscathed. And although it’s modeled after those big conveyor belts, it’s far more versatile. The SFBI loader can’t pick up a rolled-out pie crust from the counter and move it onto the pie dish, or transfer a freshly-ganached cake from wire rack to serving plate, but the Super Peel is great for these tricky jobs.

Thanks to Gary Casper, Super Peel’s inventor, you can have a chance to win a Super Peel (your choice of original maple or gorgeous new butternut) just by being a US resident and leaving a comment here by 11:59 PDT on Friday, October 23. Gary will even upgrade to a gift set — including a cloth storage bag and an extra cloth belt — if the comment I pick at random is super good (as judged by me).

I knew I could count on you for a few laughs. Thanks to everyone who sent jokes and good wishes in hopes of winning Advanced Bread and Pastry. I wish I had 107 copies of the book to give away.

Congratulations to Adam Holte of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, winner of the random drawing. Adam, when the book reaches you, I’m afraid you’re going to have to buckle down to catch up on your reading. The assignment for the first two weeks of class is Chapters 1–5. Have fun!

Today I started the professional baking program at the San Francisco Baking Institute. For the next six months, I will spend six hours a day allowing the good and talented people there to mix, ferment, shape, proof, and bake me into the best baker I can be. I will be drilled on dough, tutored on tarts, coached on chocolate, lectured on lamination, guided on gateaux. (Yes, that’s right. I am paying good money to be forced to bake a cake. And they are breaking out the ice skates in Hades.)

Now if you’re anything like me, you may be thinking, how nice for you, Susan, but what is in this for me?

What’s in it for you is a chance to win my textbook. Because I already own a copy of the excellent Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas (SFBI’s founder and president, by the way), my first-day-of-school-issue copy is up for grabs.

Interested? Of course you are. If you live in the US (sorry, my international friends, but this thing is damn heavy and I’m springing for the shipping), leave a joke here in the comments by 11:59 PM on Friday, September 18. I’m asking for a joke because I will need something to laugh about after springing for the shipping on this book.

I am happy to announce that my friend Patricia, author of the wonderful Brownies for Dinner, is the winner of the Sony camera fundraising raffle. I’m also happy to announce that my friend Cora (Cora Cooks and says she doesn’t bake, but she really does) has won the BlogHer Food ticket that I am unable to use because I will be out giving my feet a 22-mile trial on conference day.

Last weekend I did my longest training walk so far, 16 miles. If my daughter M were here, she would say “Do you want a cookie?” Yes, I do, thank you very much. Chocolate chip will be fine.

You probably know that BlogHer Food, the eating-blogging-meeting-eating conference to be held in San Francisco on September 26, has been sold out for a while.

Here’s your chance to bypass the wait list and the $99 pass price, and get in on the action. Back in May, I grabbed a conference pass while the grabbing was good. Little did I know at that point that I would be having to walk a 22-mile training walk on September 26, and somehow I don’t think I’ll be back in time for a 9 AM conference start. Bad news for me, but good news for you.

I checked with the BlogHer people, and my ticket is transferrable, so I’m happy to pass it on to a lucky random winner. In order to be eligible for this giveaway, you must:

have a food blog, or at least a blog that mentions food once or twice.

be sure you can attend the conference.

give (not sell) the ticket to another deserving blogger in the event that something comes up such that you cannot attend.

understand the pass is for the conference only; you will have to make your own arrangements for accommodations and transportation.

leave a comment here by 11:59 PM PDT on Friday, August 21. Don’t forget to enter your blog’s url in the comment form.

Finally, if you like that I’m giving up this conference in favor of a 22-mile hike in preparation for walking a marathon, please feel free to donate to my Team in Training Fundraising to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There’s no obligation, of course, but I’d sure appreciate it!

I apologize for not announcing the winner of the brotforms earlier. If you haven’t heard from me, you didn’t win, I’m sorry. The only person who has heard from me is Dave R from Boston, MA; congratulations, Dave!

As I said before, I highly recommend Brotform.com for your brotform needs. Good selection, good prices, fast shipping, nice people. So go order some.